French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "comment" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce comment in French?

comment is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɔ.mɑ̃/. It means “how.” ko-MAHN, with a nasal second syllable and a silent "t". Nothing like the English word "comment".

ko-MAHN, with a nasal second syllable and a silent "t". Nothing like the English word "comment".

comment /kɔ.mɑ̃/

co-MMENT, with the lift on the second syllable, as French almost always does. English "COMment" puts it on the first, so you have to consciously move the weight backwards.

Listen: comment

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

co A hard "k" — "c" before "o" is always hard — plus a short open "o" as in "cot".

men An "m" then the nasal vowel /ɑ̃/. The spelling has an "e", but the sound is an open "ah" routed through the nose. Your tongue never rises to make the "n".

t Silent on its own, but it wakes up in liaison before a vowel — which is exactly what happens in "comment allez-vous".

Hear it in a sentence

Comment tu t'appelles ?

What's your name?

Listen: Comment tu t'appelles ?

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Comment tu t'appelles ?" is the casual word order — the textbook version would be "comment t'appelles-tu ?" with inversion, but in conversation the question is made by intonation alone, rising on -PELLES. Notice "t'appelles", where the reflexive "te" elides before the vowel, and the doubled "ll" is a plain "l" here, not a "y".

Where English speakers slip

The English word "comment" is spelled identically and pushes learners toward "COM-ment" with a clear "n" and "t". French wants the opposite on every count: stress at the end, a nasal vowel with no "n" consonant, and a silent "t" — except in liaison, where it reappears. That last detail is what makes "comment allez-vous" sound like ko-mahn-ta-lay-VOO.